David Gordon Green

Template:Use American English Template:Infobox person David Gordon Green (born April 9, 1975) is an American filmmaker. Green began his career in 1997 and gained fame with the independent film George Washington (2000). He directed two additional independent dramas, All the Real Girls (2003) and Snow Angels (2007), as well as the thriller Undertow (2004), all of which he wrote or co-wrote.

In 2008, Green transitioned into Hollywood studio comedies, directing the films Pineapple Express (2008), Your Highness and The Sitter (both 2011). He briefly returned to his dramatic roots with the independent films Prince Avalanche (2013), Joe (2013), and Manglehorn (2014). Following this departure, he returned to studio films with Our Brand Is Crisis (2015) and Stronger (2017). Green directed a trilogy of slasher films for the Halloween franchise: Halloween (2018), Halloween Kills (2021), and Halloween Ends (2022), which he co-wrote with frequent collaborator Danny McBride. Most recently, Green directed The Exorcist: Believer (2023) and the Christmas comedy Nutcrackers (2024).

Green has also directed episodes of the comedy series Eastbound & Down (2009–2013), Red Oaks (2014–17), Vice Principals (2016–17), and The Righteous Gemstones (2019–2025), on all of which he additionally served as executive producer.

Early life

Green, one of four children, was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, and grew up in Richardson, Texas. His mother, Jean Ann (née Hunter), was a Lamaze instructor, and his father, Hubert Gordon Green, Jr., was a medical school dean. Green attended Richardson High School, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where he studied film directing. He currently lives in Charleston, South Carolina.

Career

Green at the 2013 Deauville American Film Festival

As a college student, Green made the two short films, Pleasant Grove and Physical Pinball, at the North Carolina School of the Arts prior to his feature film debut in 2000, the critically acclaimed George Washington, which he both wrote and directed. He followed that with All the Real Girls in 2003 and Undertow in 2004. In 2007, he directed Snow Angels, his first adaptation, based on the Stewart O'Nan novel. The film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival and stars Sam Rockwell and Kate Beckinsale. It was released by Warner Independent Pictures.

In 2008, Green's career transitioned when he directed the Seth Rogen buddy comedy Pineapple Express, and the HBO series Eastbound & Down, for which he directed twelve episodes and served as a consulting producer. In 2011, he co-created the animated series Good Vibes and directed the comedies Your Highness and The Sitter, both of which received negative reviews.

In 2013, Green briefly returned to independent film when he directed and co-wrote Prince Avalanche and Joe. He followed these films with Manglehorn (2014), Our Brand Is Crisis (2015), and Stronger (2017).

In 2018, Green directed the horror sequel Halloween, produced by Jason Blum, executive produced by John Carpenter, and co-written by Green and Danny McBride. He also directed its sequels Halloween Kills, released in October 2021, and Halloween Ends, released in October 2022.

In December 2020, it was announced Green will direct a new installment of The Exorcist franchise which will be a direct sequel to William Friedkin's 1973 film adaptation of the 1971 novel. The Exorcist: Believer was released in October 2023.

Green subsequently directed the Christmas-set comedy Nutcrackers, which premiered at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. Of the film, Green stated; "This movie is a lot of things. It's a comedy, it's a drama, it's a horror movie. But for me, it's a reason to dance, you know, I just wanted to start moving, move my body a little bit, and get out to the farm and kick some pig shit."

Influences

Green's favorite films are, in order, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Gravy Train, The Bad News Bears, Deliverance, Nashville and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

It has been suggested, even by the director himself, that Green's early films (most notably George Washington) take influence from the works of Terrence Malick. Malick himself served as an executive producer of Green's 2004 film Undertow.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer
2000	George Washington	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
2003	All the Real Girls	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No
2004	Undertow	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No
2007	Snow Angels	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No
2008	Pineapple Express	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
2011	Your Highness	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
	The Sitter	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
2013	Prince Avalanche	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
	Joe	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes
2014	Manglehorn	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes
2015	Our Brand Is Crisis	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
2016	Goat	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2017	Stronger	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
2018	Halloween	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Partial
2021	Halloween Kills	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Partial
2022	Halloween Ends	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Partial
2023	The Exorcist: Believer	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Partial
2024	Nutcrackers	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Partial

Executive producer The Comedy (2012) Compliance (2012) Nature Calls (2012) See Girl Run (2012) Camp X-Ray (2014) Land Ho! (2014) Booger Red (2015) Hot Sugar's Cold World (2015) Donald Cried (2016) Fraud (2016) Flower (2017) Dayveon (2017) Arizona (2018) An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn (2018) The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter (2018) City of Joel (2018)

Producer Shotgun Stories (2007) Great World of Sound (2007) The Catechism Cataclysm (2011)

Actor

Year	Title	Role
2022	The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent	Himself
	Bones and All	Brad
2023	I'm a Virgo	Bartender

Television

Year(s)	Title	Director	Executive Producer	Notes
2009-2013	Eastbound & Down	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	12 episodes
2011	Good Vibes	Template:No	Template:Yes	Also writer and co-creator
2014	Chozen	Template:No	Template:Yes
2014-2017	Red Oaks	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	6 episodes
2016-2017	Vice Principals	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	8 episodes
2017	There's... Johnny!	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Episodes "Andy Goes to Hollywood" and "Dog Day Afternoon"
	Tarantula	Template:No	Template:Yes
2019-2025	The Righteous Gemstones	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	9 episodes
2019	Dickinson	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Episodes "Because I could not stop" and "I have never seen 'Volcanoes'"
2020	Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Episodes "Pilot", "The Casino" and "The Convention"
2021	The Sex Lives of College Girls	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Episode: "Welcome to Essex"
2023	Telemarketers	Template:No	Template:Yes
2026	Scarpetta	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
	Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed	Template:Yes	Template:Yes

See also

• David Gordon Green's unrealized projects

External links

• Template:IMDb name